Episode 2 of The Neatorama Show is up at both Neatorama and Dayrobber. If you saw the first episode, you'll probably agree this is better, but there is still room for improvement. I'm learning as I go!

Friday, June 27, 2008

Boobs for Barack. Write your message of support for Barack Obama on your boobs, and send a picture in. For the life of me, I can't see how this is going to help his presidential campaign, but I bet it will draw a lot of internet traffic.

This is pretty neat! Using the principle of the old Zoetropes, this guy built his own 3D discs and rotated them with turntables.In March 2007 at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London we hosted an evening of animation related events which I took as an opportunity to make some more examples of my Phonographantasmascope, an extension of the Zoetrope principle.It is all live action and works by using the shutter speed of the camera rather than the rather irritating stroboscope methods other 3D Zoetropes use.

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Chase is a cat with no face. She was in an accident that left her without a nose, cheek skin, or eyelids. She also lost one leg.

I was in an accident when I was 4 wks, I became disfigured. I have a Furry Will to survive and I am completely healed now at age 3. I require medication during the day to keep my eyes moist. I will always look different but I am in NO PAIN! I have seen 10 vets and they can attest to that! I'm a happy kitty and hope to help other humans (especially those disfigured) thru my work as a therapy cat feel just as great about themselves and realize that not everyone looks perfect and that is OK.

The good news is that I have a new computer! It's a Mac Mini, like the one I've been using for a few years, but the old one died suddenly on Saturday. You may not have noticed it here, because I had several "videos of the day" set to post automatically. But you might have noticed I haven't had any links lists or full-length features for several days.

The bad news is that I lost all my old files, so it may take a while to get back up to speed. There probably won't be any movies this week, and the links list will be shorter for a while. But this new computer is a pleasure to use, and I'll try to find lots of nice new stuff for you!

Friday, June 20, 2008

The plot involves treasure hunters who track down a lost fortune in Nazi gold in the desert, only to discover that the treasure is still guarded by the soldiers transporting it, who have become zombies.

Oasis of the Zombies is in fact the French version of a Spanish film originally entitled La tumba de los muertos vivientes. The French version has different scenes and a different score, and must be considered as nothing more than a producer's cut. Only the director's cut includes the scenes with Lina Romay and Eduardo Fajardo.

You might remember the Computer Trap Shoot from a couple of years ago, when some good ole Kentucky boys shot my old iMac for grins. It’s a Fourth of July tradition. To get you in the proper mood for the upcoming holiday, here’s the 2007 version, newly edited with the proper musical accompaniment.

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

The “solstice moon” will be visible tomorrow night. It just might be the biggest thing you’ve seen in quite some time!

People pay taxes not because government needs us to. People pay taxes because other people need us to. At least, that’s the way it should be. If we can find the money to kill people, why can’t we find the money to help people?

Monday, June 16, 2008

From IMDb:A pretty young circus trapeze artist is pushed by her domineering mother to be the best aerialist in the world. When she begins to fall for one of the two men in her act, her mother determines to break up the romance. So does the other trapeze artist, who is also in love with her.

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Another webcomic I love is The Joy of Tech. Because laughter is the best tech support. Geeks, and especially MacUsers will find a home here. Highly recommended. This particular comic was found at Dark Roasted Blend.

Friday, June 13, 2008

The film is about an unemployed banker, Henri Verdoux, and his sociopathic methods of attaining income. While being both loyal and competent in his work, Verdoux has been laid-off. To make money for his wife and child, he marries wealthy widows and then murders them. His crime spree eventually works against him when two particular widows break his normal routine. The film ends as Verdoux is being led to the guillotine in the prison courtyard after defending his actions as no worse than those carried out every day throughout human history, differing only in scale.

The New York Times just this week did an in-depth article on this movie.

7 Modern Wonders of Green Technology. When you put stories of these new technologies together, it gives you a sense of hope for the earth.

Tips for saving money on your wedding. Eloping will save you even more!

Home prices are rising in Minot, North Dakota, while they fall everywhere else. Those millions of gallons of oil underneath make a difference.

Paul Nicklen is a photographer for National Geographic Magazine. Over the course of several days last year, he developed a relationship with a 12-foot 1,000 pound leopard seal. She brought him penguins to eat and even tried to teach him how to hunt penguins. (via Arbroath)

A newly-discovered ancient Roman burial ground is a rare find, because it’s filled with everyday people instead of royalty. Their bones tell what their lives were really like.

Honey produced from the flowers of rhododendrons may cause honey intoxication. “Mad honey” is so powerful, it’s been used as a weapon of war.

14 Research-Proven Ways To Boost Brain Power. Several of these can be fulfilled by reading mental_floss.

How To Visit a Secret Nuclear Bunker. Sharon Weinberger and Nathan Hodge came this close to attending Facilities Managers Conference at the secret Raven Rock Mountain Complex.

Summer recreation tips from Forecast Earth. Forest fires aren’t all that bad, but you don’t want to start one.

Two elderly people with dementia fall in love in an assisted-living facility. Should they be “allowed” to have sex? And who has the right to decide?

On June 12th, 1942, a young girl in the Netherlands named Anne Frank turned 13 years old. She received a cloth-bound blank book that she had requested for a birthday gift. Anne intended to use it for a diary, although she didn’t think anyone would ever be interested in reading it.

For someone like me, it is a very strange habit to write in a diary. Not only that I have never written before, but it strikes me that later I, nor anyone else, will care for the outpouring of a thirteen year old schoolgirl.

Anne wrote about her life and how she and her family went into hiding in 1940 to avoid the Nazi death camps.

The little autograph book/diary that Anne had received less than a month before going into hiding, became a mirror into the soul of the teenager. As the world around her was increasingly crumbling, she began to pour out her heart and soul in her diary. She also used several other notebooks and individual pieces of paper when the book was filled.

The entries in her diary record the thoughts of the girl. She records the growing tensions in their hideout, and even despises her mother, although later she chastises herself for having such thoughts. She records her first kiss, from a 16-year-old boy whose family was in the hideout with them, but then squelches any possible romance. All in all, she records the ups and downs of budding womanhood, under the most adverse of situations.

She continued to write until their hiding place was discovered in 1944. Later, Anne died of typhus in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. Her father found the diary after the war was over. Millions of people have been touched by Anne’s writing in the years since. Anne Frank would have turned 79 today. (via the Presurfer)

The Color Sense Game from Pittsburgh Paints finds your “color personality” based on your five senses, your interests, and your style. Each resulting personality gives you lots of colors to work with. My color personality is Mosaic and Tapestry, which I can’t argue with. (via the Presurfer)

A Spock Monkey. Why didn’t I think of that? Monkeys are available as other Star Trek characters, too.

6 Historic Figures Who Were Celibate. These six are mostly creative types who were obsessed with their work ahead of... everything else.

You might think that video games began with Pong, but here’s one that dates back fifty years!

Way back in 1958, William Higinbotham invented Tennis For Two to liven up visitor day at Brookhaven National Laboratory, his workplace. The game uses an oscilloscope with two control pads. It remained largely unknown until 1981 when a lawyer trying to break Magnavox's patent for video games came across writings talking about the game.

Blueprints of it were found to predate Magnavox's game, the case was settled out of court, and the game found fame as the second ever invented, since it was later predated by A.S. Douglas' 'OXO' game from 1952.

The music is “To Find Our Freedom” from The Peacekeepers. (via Grow-A-Brain)

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

1972 spaghetti western. From iMDB:Philipp Wermeer has been framed for the murder of a powerful figure known as The Patriarch. Wermeer escapes, but the three Saxon brothers, sons of The Patriarch, have arranged for a large bounty on Wermeer's head. Clayton is a grizzled ex-sheriff stripped of his office in Jefferson after refusing to acknowledge Wermeer's guilt. During a series of fire-fights, Clayton contrives to help Wermeer escape from attacks of bounty-hunters. Together, the two make their way to Jefferson, where they can confront the three powerful Saxon brothers, and reveal the surprising truth about who killed The Patriarch.

Peeps in Space. An adventurous astro-peep flies to the edge of space on a balloon mission, nearly 97,000 feet high.

Baby Farming in Victorian England. Regulations designed to enforce morality and save government money led to a lucrative infanticide industry.

Why would someone pay $55.71 for a $50 gift card on eBay? Commenters come up with many reasons.

The male rejection of adulthood is now the dominant attitude in Hollywood comedy. The center of attention will be a guy, his buddies and his toys. He will, most of the time, be nudged toward responsibility, forgiven for his quirks and nurtured in his needs and neuroses by a woman who represents an ideal amalgam of supermodel and mom.

6 iconoclastic discoveries about the brain. We now know what we thought we knew is wrong. Ya know?

How Do They Do That 2: 10 Awesome and Intriguing Flash Animations. The sequel to last week’s list. And just as good.

A business name should tell you what kind of business it is, and it should be memorable. This one certainly is! Best Week Ever has pictures of 50 storefronts featuring giggle-inspiring puns. (via I Am Bored)

Sunday, June 08, 2008

I just discovered Simulated Comic Product with this comic yesterday. You'll have to click to enlarge it, or go to the comic on the site. Looking through the archives, I find it full of dry geeky fun. Check it out yourself!

Corman offered Coppola the chance to direct a low-budget horror movie in Ireland with funds left over from Corman's recently completed The Young Racers, on which Coppola had worked as a sound technician. The producer wanted a cheap Psycho-copy, complete with gothic atmosphere and brutal killings, and Coppola quickly wrote a screenplay in accordance with Corman's requirements. Although he was given total directorial freedom during production, Coppola found himself fighting with Corman after the film was completed. The producer declared the movie unreleasable and demanded several changes be made. Corman eventually brought in another director, Jack Hill, to film additional sequences.

Forget Van Gogh; he only lost an ear. It was the great castrato Farinelli who made the ultimate sacrifice for art. He wasn't the only one, but he was the most famous.

Carlo Broschi was a man who really suffered for his music. Known to the world as the great opera singer Farinelli (1705-1782), he was castrated as a young boy to prevent his exquisite singing voice from ever breaking. But before you start feeling too sorry for the songsmith, it’s worth bearing in mind that Farinelli was showered with wealth and adulation throughout his career. And even with a couple of pieces missing from his repertoire, he still managed to make beautiful music with the ladies.

How fair is it to castrate a young boy? Even if he thinks he understands what that's all about, he doesn't know because he is not yet a man. I'm glad they don't do this anymore.

Wednesday, June 04, 2008

1935. From iMDB:Bill Collins meets up with his look-alike the Phantom and is soon involved in his fight with Buck Houston. Houston has a big robbery planned but the Phantom beats him to it. Bill fights off Houston's men only to find the Phantom shot and dying and unaware that Houston is about to finish him off also.

Tuesday, June 03, 2008

A pie chart is a round graph divided into sectors that illustrates percentages of a whole. It is named after the way we normally divide a pie into slices. Whether it is effective depends on the type of data you want to present. What really matters is whether you can make it funny!

English Russia has a video report of a hot sauna built from ice! If that isn’t weird enough, you’ll see a builder chinking the cracks with slush using his bare hands. And after a nice hot sauna, the participants take a dip in the water outside! (via Unique Daily)

In the comics, Wolverine pops his claws out right through his skin, and when they retract, his skin heals up. There’s a group of frogs in Africa that do the exact same thing!

100 Ways to Scale Down Your Life. Because “livin’ large” is a real hassle.

Could someone else be using your social security number? The US government collects $500 billion in uncredited Social Security wages, so it’s not in their best interest to do anything about it.

Eight Things We Are Running Out Of And Why. Most of them can be attributed to what we know as “modern living”.

Working from home is not easy, but it’s easier when you have an office you can use just for work. If you have a shed or room to build one, it can become a home office away from the distractions of the house. Here are twenty such shed offices that have been customized to the max.

A fossil fish, estimated at 380 million years old, has been discovered in the act of giving birth. The fish and her offspring died while still connected by an umbilical cord. The discovery is also the earliest evidence so far of internal fertilization, or sex with penetration.

Seven Famous Sets of Conjoined Twins. Such twins would find it difficult to not be famous.

Sunday, June 01, 2008

Dan Piraro’s comic Bizarro is not exclusively a webcomic, since it appears in newspapers all over. But you'll see more of it on the 'net. I love his sense of humor! I laughed out loud at one that was recently featured at Neatorama, The Salvation Army Special Forces. To keep up with the latest, check out Dan's website and blog.